张宗元

JANG Jongwan(b.1983) portrays the endless anxiety of human-centered societies and modern humanity, which emphasizes selfish rationality, in a peculiar warm but cynical perspective. His paintings, in a classical way, mix with the artist's view of contemporary society. Unlike the so-called "barbershop", which has an impression of easy and familiar, work is full of pity and ridicule that makes the viewer discover a new meaning. The ironic landscape maximizes its kitschiness by being drawn on the back of the animal skin, a mixture of human wishes for salvation, neglected nature and animals, blind and insanity beliefs.

The artist wants to expand the area of the image by attempting to work on video and installation. The eyes of the animals in the video look somewhat like those of humans, and the anxiety and confusion of their eyes seem to communicate with the viewer. Unlike the world on the screen with a comfortable color, our gaze facing him again returns to an uneasy and cold reality. The artist humorously twists the human desire for salvation which represented by utopia or heaven, and asks in which direction what lies in our desire is headed.

JANG Jongwan held solo exhibitions at Arario Museum in Space (Seoul, Korea) in 2020, Arario Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2017, Kumho Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) and Willing & Dealing (Seoul, Korea) in 2014, He also participated in group exhibition such as Ulsan Art Museum (Ulsan, Korea) in 2022, Willing & Dealing, Daegu Art Museum (Daegu, Korea), MOCA (Busan, Korea), Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea), SeMA Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2021, Seoul 284 (Seoul, Korea) in 2020, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Cheongju, Korea and BOAN (Seoul, Korea)) in 2019, Yeosu International Arts Festival (Yoesu, Korea) and Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2018, Hite Collection (Seoul, Korea) in 2017, Arario Museum Tapdong Bike Shop (Jeju, Korea) in 2015, Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale (Shenzhen, China) and Daegu Art Museum (Daegu, Korea) in 2014, Arko Museum (Seoul, Korea) in 2012, Alt Space Loop (Seoul, Korea) in 2011, Doosan Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2009.